What is wrong with Canada?

We have "boil water advisories" here occasionally, not very often. Most of us buy bottled water to keep on hand just in case. We're a pretty isolated community, which a really crappy water system - just a well, purification tanks, and an antiquated pumping system.

I agree this country is a piece of shit because it's always boasting about how great it is, but the realities - such as longstanding unsettled land claims, widespread poverty, inadequate access to good health care, shortage of doctors right across the country, boil water advisories, belie that PR bullshit.

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Originally posted by Coyote:
[b] There are vast inequalities that need to be addressed, just as there are in many other countries.[/b]

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And which countries would those be? Which developed nations have Canada's unparalleled in the world natural resource wealth, and which also share similar child poverty rates and thirdworld conditions across much of its northern territory?

Water is one of those things that Canadians don't really care about unless they are directly affected by it. There are plenty of examples of this.

Most contamination is out of site , like ground water and aquifers , hence out of mind. Industry , mostly oil and gas use plenty of this water and by doing so causes the contamination, as the clean underground systems (that start depleting) start sucking from the above ground contamination.The media is mostly to blame also as they always pick industries side and fail miserably at educating the public on the seriousness of water contamination. The industry also is trained in handling the media thru facilitators who cover up, deny and say "prove it".

Again as long as your not the one contaminated or poisoned Canadians don't really give a shit. That I'm sorry to say is a fact. Like someone saying they are for "green" while they drive an suv...everyone else should be green but not them.

All these problems can be exposed with a decent left media in the country.

It's gotten to the point where Canadians pretty well deserve what they get...You can lead "dummy kanuck" to the well but you can't make him/her suck it up - unfortunately. [img]wink.gif" border="0[/img]

Fidel, alas horrific oppression of Indigenous peoples is common to all the countries of the Americas, and several others.

Hmm, Denmark. Denmark itself is small, but Greenland is huge. Did you know there are a lot of Inuit in Danish cities, with the same problems as urban Aboriginals here?

Not to mention Australia. [img]frown.gif" border="0[/img]

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Originally posted by remind:
[b]Some commuities in BC get boil water advisories quite often in the spring, as they get their water supply from rivers and creeks...[/b]

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Ironically many of these BC communities are fighting the governments attempts at improving the water quality through various treatment measures.

Expecting big city water quality in tiny rural communities is asking alot. A bit like asking for high quality public transit.

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Originally posted by Coyote:
[b]Fidel, I think I made it pretty clear I'm not minimizing the substance of the article. C'mon, you've known me a long time, dude.[/b]

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I didn't realize Denmark was home to indigenous people. Scuse?

I was meaning in terms of child poverty across Canada in spite of millions of barrels and cubic metres of fossil fuels, and massive-massive amounts of hydroelectric power flowing south every year and driving economic growth in the USSA ... as opposed to here in the fake country known as Canada. The situation with Canada's First Nations people has been described as "Canadian apartheid" for a long time. Finland is one other northern latitudinal country with an indigenous population, and no doubt experiencing issues with land distribution and land claims. But I wonder what their child poverty rates are? Hmmm

Hmm no thats not it. Its that you only come here to post flaws about canada on a canada board which pretty much makes it trolling for a fight. Much as it would be for us going to a Dutch board and pointing out whats wrong with Holland or their murderous past with colonialism etc etc etc

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Greenland belongs to Denmark.

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Does it? or is that just what you've been taught to believe?

I do hope you understand that I wasn't implying that Greenland SHOULD belong to Denmark. I used that expression because I didn't remember its exact political status (territory, etc.)

According to Wikipedia, it is a "self-governing Danish province".

Wasn't it Inuit people who were banished up to Ellesmere? There is also the issue of the Innu community in Labrador that was moved to an unsustainable location.

I certainly would not try to play down the destruction of Aboriginal cultures here or the dire situation among many First Peoples. But the Canadian state is not unique in that respect.

pk34th45,

You must be the only person I know from the Netherlands whos speaks ill of Canada. Even after 60 years most folks there are still grateful for the sacrifice made by Canadian soldiers to free your country from the Nazis.

Yes, Canada is not perfect. But it's still a pretty damn good place.

Boiling water in springtime is nothing unusual. Surface water from snow melt contaminates aquifers. And yet some 3 billion people don't have access to clean water. Ever. Some 5 million people, mostly children, are killed every year by foul water. I bet they would gladly trace their lot for the inconvenience of boiling water a few days of the year.

There's no point in such general comparisons. Of course there are countries "better" in most ways -- Scandinavia, better than anywhere in that sense. And of course there are ones no better, or worse, than Canada -- everywhere else. So what?

It's only worthwhile if you're talking about some issue in particular. Medicare, aboriginal relations, clean water, seal hunts, whatever.

But even then you're not really interested in who's better. You're interested in how good we are compared to how we could, and should, be.

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Originally posted by lagatta:
[b]Wasn't it Inuit people who were banished up to Ellesmere? There is also the issue of the Innu community in Labrador that was moved to an unsustainable location.[/b]

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You're right, they were [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grise_Fiord,_Nunavut#Settlement]Inuit[/url] who were split up from families and sent to Grise Fiord, southern tip of Ellesmere Island to live as human flag poles for the sake of cold war. Probably our federal Liberals trying to appease the Americans again.

And I understand what you're saying about other countries. I was just wanting to point out that certain other countries in northern latitudes have made progress wrt child poverty and infant mortality among their indigenous populations over the last ten or fifteen years. So I think Canada does have examples to follow in certain respects. Successive Liberal and Conservative governments at the federal level have run out of excuses as to why they haven't acted after 140 consecutive years in power. We have thirdworld conditions across much of Northern Canada. Given Canada's unparalleled in the world natural resource wealth and being exported at a frenzied pace since FTA-NAFTA, I think Canada has even fewer excuses than less fortunate countries which [i]have[/i] made significant progress toward improving living conditions for indigenous people in the last decade.